In the search to reduce thermal pollution and take advantage of renewable energy sources, some people have proposed that we take advantage of such sources as discharges from electrical power plants, geothermal energy, and ocean thermal energy. Although many of these sources contain an enormous amount of energy, the amount of work they are capable of producing is limited. How might you use the work potential to assign an “energy quality” to these proposed sources? Test your proposed “energy quality” measure by applying it to the ocean thermal source, where the temperature 30 m below the surface is perhaps 5°C lower than at the surface. Apply it also to the geothermal water source, where the temperature 2 to 3 km below the surface is perhaps 150°C hotter than at the surface.
